Thoughts on Season 5

[dub]

Somewhere toward the end of season 4, I found myself enjoying some of the episodes enough to be excited for the next episode.

However...in "Extreme Risk" I thought it was out of character for Janeway to warp away while the little Malon ship was having trouble breaking through the atmosphere. It would have been more Janeway-like for her to stay and at least offer to help them even though they proved to be annoying. She does have a tendency to help annoying people, at times putting the crew at risk in favor of her ideals. So that scene struck me as unusual for her.

So far, Seven has some touching scenes here and there. The end of "Drone" was especially touching. "You will adapt." I almost shed a tear at that line and Seven's reaction. Reminded me of "The Offspring," which I also found to be touching.

But I can do without the Full House-esque "what did we learn today" scenes with Seven and Janeway at the end of some of these episodes.

 

[R. Star]

Yeah... the whole "seven learns another lesson about humanity" every other week just about got a bit old.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Season four is easily the strongest of VOY. Nothing great or earth shattering, just nicely consistent. It carries over in the beginning of Season Five, but dies of quickly IIRC. I remember actually being bored by "Dark Frontier", so it'll be interesting to revisit that once I get closer. First I have to get through "Once Upon a Time". UGGGGGGH....

 

[dub]

aww...I just watched "Once Upon a Time." I thought it was a lovely little episode. It also helps explain further some of Neelix's child-like behavior.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Of all the annual "serious Neelix" episodes, I thought it was weak. Up next is "Timeless". Gotta admit, I never really cared for that one, because I find it hard to care about Harry Kim in anything.

 

[dub]

I find it hard to care about Harry Kim in anything.

I'm with you on that one. I'm halfway through "Timeless" and will watch the other half tonight.

 

[dub]

"Timeless" - this was sort of "Generations" meets "Yesterday's Enterprise," only not as nearly good as either. And what was up with Harry Kim's deeper voice? I understand things changed for him, but his voice? I guess maybe he finally hit puberty or something.

"Infinite Regress" - I really enjoyed seeing Seven smile and talk with a more "normal" voice. Beyond that, I didn't really care for the episode. If she did more than bite B'Elanna, I might have a different opinion.

"Nothing Human" - The creature looked ridiculous, which made it difficult for me to "feel" anything about B'Elanna's condition. And here they're able to basically create a second doctor in a matter of minutes. Janeway thinks of the idea in seconds, then Harry Kim is able to put together a doctor complete with a personality AND the ability to operate on someone AND go from the holodeck to the sickbay as needed. But...just a few episodes earlier, Harry tried, and tried, and tried to create a working version of the doctor and failed, and failed, and failed. But somehow here, he was able to successfully create a completely different doctor in a short time with pretty much no problems? Okay, okay, I'll look past all of that. So then, they create a CARDASSIAN, knowing that some of the crew are MAQUIS!!! At least create it with a human form or something! And after this, perhaps they should build a library of hologram "characters" who are medical specialists in specific areas? All of that aside, I thought this episode would have been more interesting if the Bajoran kid went behind everyone's back and deleted the character before he was able to finish treating the creature and B'Elanna. That would have added more purpose for this guest character. Then, the doctor would be forced to kill the creature to save B'Elanna, which would cause the alien ship to engage Voyager in battle. After the battle, the Bajoran is thrown in the brig. Tensions are rekindled between the Maquis and the Starfleet crews...that might have been interesting than the obvious choice of having the doctor delete the character when they were through with the operation.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

"Timeless" is admirable, but Garret Wang just isn't an interesting enough actor to carry something like this. He just comes across as flat. It's nice that the writers tried giving Kim something worthwhile, still.

"Nothing Human" would have been much better had Torres been immobilized by something that the Cardassian doc did experiment on, thus the whole issue of a using solution that was found by immoral experimentation would have more of a kick to it. Instead, it's the idea of a notorious Cardie helping and that's what freaks many. However, he's a hologram. Everyone should be aware it's not the real infamous cardie. I also disagree with the Doc in the end about deleting all the data. Sure, the way all the info came was through really horrible experimentation, but I'm a firm believer in making something good out of a bad situation. Deleting all the info only means that the lives of those victims were in vain, when you could honor them by doing something right with the info. Don't let them die for nothing.

BTW, lol at the Bajoran officer saying "My God!"

 

[dub]

^ yes! "My god" certainly seemed out of place there, and the actor was not that great so it came off as a laughable moment.

"Thirty Days" appealed to me because, well, Paris is my favorite VOY character I think, and I enjoyed the bit of alien sea exploration. It was fun, wish there was more. And I liked that he was demoted and thrown in the brig, plus the letter to his dad. Great stuff for his character. Would have been cool to have John Debney (sea quest) to score this one!

"Counterpoint" - I just enjoyed seeing Janeway getting a little romance, even if it was all a big chess game.

"Latent Image" - I like the way this started. I thought his deleted memories would eventually reveal that the doc was in love with the ensign who died, but that's not what happened at all. Maybe it would have been more dramatic if the other patient who ended up dying was that little girl (neelix's goddaughter)? I dunno. Great performance as always though by Picardo.

"Bride of Chaotica" was just a fun one. Loved it. These fun episodes are nice once in a blue moon.

"Gravity" - wow. For me, this was one of the better episodes. I loved putting Paris, Tuvok and the doc together. Too bad they didn't do more with Tuvok and Paris prior to this. They are such opposites and have a much more appealing "odd couple" chemistry than Tuvok and Neelix, whose scenes together just come off as annoying mostly. I loved the Tuvok flashback scenes, especially the last one. And the guest actress who fell in love with him did a great job. I believed her, and I felt Tuvok's regret over it. The music for this episode was especially good. I'd love to see the score for this one released in a CD collection.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

I do wish that Bajoran character was the person we saw in "Learning Curve", rather than just a new character that we never see or hear of ever again.

"Latent Image" is the kind of episode that shouldn't work, because I always hated when VOY would suddenly bring out this guest character that everyone seems have a huge bond with yet we never heard of that ("Ashes to Ashes" being most guilty), but given the context of the Doc's deleted memories it's actually perfect that we as an audience do not know of that guest character because we're seeing things through the Doc's eyes. Pretty clever, I say.

 

[dub]

I'm done through "Course: Oblivion" now. That one was interesting, though I question a lot of the "how" of it. I don't remember the ship being duplicated, how did they do that, why don't they remember getting on the ship and leaving the planet, how were they able to duplicate the doctor, phasers, shields, ship computers, "usable components" for a time capsule probe, etc (and again, why don't they remember), where did they get all of the anti-matter for the warp core, how come the duplicated ship was so close to the planet and the real Voayger was able to catch up to them - even though the real crew had left that planet months ago and even leaped way beyond that space with transwarp drive, how do they explain missing crew members (those who didn't agree to being duplicated), things like that. But perhaps they explained away some of that and my mind just wasn't absorbing the dialogue at that point in the show. Anyway, looking past all of that (lol), it was very interesting and TOS-esque.

I really liked "Dark Frontier," though I think they could have made it even more dramatic by forcing Seven to witness people being murdered who resisted, also showing more children being assimilated (to relate to Seven since she was assimilated as a child). That might have been powerful. Even showing Seven shed a tear or two over it. Or attempt to take her father with her back to Voyager, then he dies because they're not able to de-borgify him properly. Or have Seven look up to the heavens and yell "QUEEEEEEEEN!" No, I take that last one back.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Season 4 and 5 represent the high water mark for VOY. There are many episodes i enjoy in this season.

Night
Drone
Nothing Human
Timeless
Thirty Days
Infinite Regress
Latent Image
Bride of Chaotica
Dark Frontier
Equinox

 

[dub]

"Someone to Watch Over Me"

Oh, how I love this episode! I'm a sucker for romance anyway, the older I get. I just loved it. Seven letting her hair down, her date going poorly (snapping a whole lobster in half!), Doc falling in love, Doc insulting her with his bet, then Doc taking a seat in the FRIEND ZONE! And Doc playing the piano and singing at the end, with the "Thanks for the Memories" gift sitting on the piano and the ship quietly impulsing off. I was so sad when the roses scene was just an illusion. Jerri Ryan, like Jolene Blalock, has a really tough job of being cold yet showing enough small hints of humanity here and there to be intriguing (and of course, being beautiful doesn't hurt). The vulnerability in Seven's eyes when she asked the Doctor what he wanted to say to her...I loved it. And there were some wonderfully humorous lines and some innuendo throughout this episode. The singing augments in DS9? That was okay. But the singing in this episode was just wonderful. Wonderfully executed, edited, acted, everything. I know this isn't the "Trekkest" or most scifi of episodes. But more like this, please.

 

[R. Star]

You feel for the Doctor in this episode, and Picardo's so good you can almost forget that he's a computer program and really shouldn't be programmed to feel love like that.

 

[dub]

Yeah! Poor guy! He could have sang "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" at the end instead...

"My poor heart is sentimental, not made of wood.
I got it bad and that ain't good."

He might be a hologram, but he has real feelings. That song would have been perfect. He could just change "he" to "she" in that song. "No woman should" to "nobody should." It could work.

 

[Melakon]

I was going to suggest "Is That All There Is?" made famous by Peggy Lee, but instead I'll offer "Once Upon a Time" as sung by Perry Como.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Q7R11f4Bg

Bob Picardo would have done great with either of these. I first heard "Once Upon a Time" at a dinner theatre intermission performed by the serving staff, and it brought tears to my eyes.

 

[R. Star]

I dunno, why isn't Robert Picardo a celebrity among actors? I've never seen him put in a bad performance in anything.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I dunno, why isn't Robert Picardo a celebrity among actors? I've never seen him put in a bad performance in anything.

Bald.

 

[Melakon]

I dunno, why isn't Robert Picardo a celebrity among actors? I've never seen him put in a bad performance in anything.

Bald.

And he's primarily a character actor. They may not be as popular as leads, but they often have careers lasting much longer.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I was watching Small Soldiers yesterday, had forgotten he was in it. It's always this hugely pleasant surprise when he shows up in something.